Sakura's Journey to Power
by Scenic Sakura
Summary: After Sakura failed the mission to find Sasuke and escort him home with Naruto and Sai, She's been feeling guilty and decides to clear her mind of everything outside the border of the Land of Fire near a huge forest. But she finds a group of ninja there who were about to turn her life around. All Naruto Characters Belong To Misashi Kishimoto xXx
1. Chapter 1

**Act One - Curiosity killed the cat**

I quietly tightened my headband while looking down at the camp of shinobi below me. Tsunade had specifically instructed me not to engage in combat if I were to come in contact with this group, although something inside me was urging me to approach them. It was a stupid move to say in the least as most of the group were present. It would be suicide if I jumped out of my hidden location to try and attack them. I've been taught expert chakra cloaking techniques and I'm more grateful than ever that Tsunade had included them in my training. The Akatsuki are a dangerous bunch of rogues after all.

"So...what are we doing here again?" I heard someone speak up. I concentrated more chakra into listening in on the conversation.

"One of the medical herbs used in the antidote sample that was near Sasori's dead body is supposedly somewhere within this proximity. We could use Sasori's unique poison for our own purposes. But having an antidote to pair with it in case it is used against us will also give us an advantage." A dull voice bored as I refrained from rolling my eyes. Of course. They wouldn't want to revive Sasori with easy methods. They would rather use his poison for their own needs. Why do I care anyway. The only reason I'm here is to gather more information on Orochimaru after the failure of trying to get Sasuke back with our last attempt. I looked down at my left hand and frowned as I curled it up into a fist. I will get him back this time.

"I'll head North with Zetzu and Kakuzu, Hidan, You go with Kisame and Itachi and head West. The rest of you, go South. We don't have time to waste." There were a few seconds of silence before he dismissed the group while walking away. I knew that there was one ingredient needed nearby for Sasori's antidote so I quietly sped off in the direction of the herb. It took me little less than two minutes to reach the location. There were plenty of herbs here. I jumped down from the branch I was on and hurriedly harvested all the herbs before I heard someone approaching from the distance.

Before I could get caught I darted behind a big boulder. My heart was racing. That was way too close. I tried calming my breath down as I heard footsteps getting louder.

"There's nothing here." One of them spoke up. I smirked and closed my eyes in relief that I fooled them.

"Hidan is right. We better head back to the camp." I heard shuffling about and was prepared to take my leave until I heard a slight cough.

"It appears as if there has been someone around this area. Quite recently too." a dark voice spoke up. More shuffling was heard. "You see," He started. "The stems of the herbs have been left sticking out of the ground, unprofessionally picked. The herbs themselves, I believe, used to be here only moments ago," My eyes widened, how could anybody other than a professional know something like that? "You can tell that they were recently picked as a faint smell of the herb lingers in the air." I cussed somewhat inaudibly out loud as I tried to use a little chakra to mask the smell of the freshly picked herbs.

"I can't smell anything, Itachi." a deep voice spoke up after a while. I started to panic slightly. I am not ready to face three top ranked rogue shinobi.

"That's because whoever picked these herbs are here, and in earshot of what I just said." My heart raced more. How could I have been so careless?

I heard a few footsteps getting louder and louder. It seems to me that they were getting closer to my location. I slowly took out a kunai in preparation of planning an escape route.

"Where are they?" An abrupt voice made me jump slightly and my chakra unwillingly flared out. I cussed loudly as I jumped away from the boulder seconds before a hidden tag exploded, making the boulder shatter in an instant. I could just about regain my balance and jump further backwards as another explosive tag was thrown in my direction. My feet hit the ground again as I stared at the three plainly in the face. I couldn't handle these three guys. I've only just started my Genjutsu specialist training. I can't possibly fight these guys. My breath hitched.

"Who the fuck are you?" The Rude guy, who I'm assuming from the previous conversation I overheard is named Hidan, yelled as I examined my surroundings. I'm so fucked if I can't find an opportune moment to run.

"Haruno, Sakura. From the village hidden in the leaves." Itachi spoke up. I clenched my fist tightly. I had such a strong urge to smash his face into the ground because of the pain he had brought to Sasuke. But with two other Akatsuki members by his side. That was merely impossible. "The kunoichi of team Kakashi. Comrades with the jinchuriki." Just after he finished his sentence I rammed my fist into the ground with pure strength. The ground beneath me shook violently and cracked in all directions before chunks of earth flew into the air. I took this moment to make a run for it. If I don't get to the border of the land of fire soon. I'm done for.

"Don't let her escape." I heard a voice echo from behind me. I couldn't have just left them to it could I? I just had to go ahead and take the herbs so that they couldn't create the antidote. But I guess I shouldn't have been so careless with my antidote needles scattered around the battlefield where Sasori was, otherwise they would have been clueless to an antidote for his poison to have even existed.

I begin holding my breath as I accelerated my speed. I can't engage in battle with them. I knew from Guy Sensei that Kizame, The fish looking dude, had an even more incredible amount of chakra than Naruto and the nine tailed fox put together. I knew from personal experience on how sly Itachi can be in his fighting style and how quick he is in speed. But I currently don't have any experience or knowlegde on Hidan.

I was about to jump ahead until Kisame suddenly appeared in front of me with his sword held in his hand effortlessly. I released my breath and jumped up into the trees to begin heading off over head. My heart started to pound aggressively against my rib cage. I am so scared. This is the worst situation I've ever been in...

I could actually die here.

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A.N I'VE STARTED WRITING FANFICTIONS AGAIN ;_; i really don't want to let you guys down so I'll make sure that everyone remains in their character :3 But please tell me what you think of this storyline so far and if you want the chapters to be a slight bit longer ^_^ Thank you 3


	2. Chapter 2

**Act two - Captured**

I was nearing the border of the land of fire...But I was still a good ten minutes away at a fast pace if I could keep it up.

My breath was unsteady and I was finding it hard to control it because of my emotions. I know it's a basic rule to not show any emotion at all, but I couldn't simply hide the fact that I was running for my life right now.

I have to think of a way that I can slow them down...even if I reach the leaf village, what's stopping them from entering? It's late at night and many of the Specialist Jonin are away on specified missions assigned to their skill sets.

"You think you're smart enough to out run us?" I heard a voice come from behind me. I twisted my body in mid jump to face in the direction opposite to what I was travelling in. nobody was there. My eyes widened after realising that the enemy was in front of me the whole time. I could hear the rattling of a weapon getting closer. I infused my fist with a concentrated amount of chakra and twisted my body again to try and hit the target. I missed completely as he dodged around me and swung his scythe dangerously close to my head.

I just about managed to dodge his sharp blade by mere millimetres. I couldn't run away any more. They've caught up to me and I'd just get caught in an attack if I turned my back on them now.

"No." I replied honestly. "But I don't see any gain you guys would have..." I could only think of one way out of this...I got myself tangled up in this stupid mess in the first place. The herbs I picked won't grow for another couple of years, that's why it's such an important component of the antidote. I shouldn't have got involved...But as one of the loyal protectors of the village hidden in the leaves...I can't be captured and tortured to give off vital information...So there was only one way out of this. I took out one of my strongest explosive tags and held it near my chest. "..If myself and the herbs are out of your reach." I finished. I held my right arm up to my face and resisted the urge to shake in fear.

I was moments away from activating the explosive tag before a figure jumped in front of me and I was faced with a pair of stoic red eyes. He snatched the tag and pushed my chest back with extreme pressure, forcing my body to painfully break through several trees before I smashed harshly into an extremely hard stone wall.

"Ugh," I jumped off the boulder and steadied myself on the ground while dusting the rubble off myself. "I don't need that to get rid of the herbs." I muttered mostly to myself. I weaved in a few handsigns before I felt the ground underneath me rumble. These guys were determined to not fail their simple mission. I sighed in annoyance before changing the pattern of my handsigns to one that would amplify the strength of my chakra.

Hidan sped towards me with a blood-curdling smile and wide eyes. He swung his scythe straight for me. I quickly moved slightly to the right and used my chakra to force my fist down onto his scythe. It would have shattered if it wasn't for Kisame speeding towards me with his shark skin sword. I jumped backwards out of the way and took out my kunai. Nothing but pure fear was driving my body. I didn't want to die...but at the same time, there is no way for me to escape this situation alive.

"Give it up." I stated keeping my eye on the two guys. I tried to calm myself down. I don't want to rile myself up or proceed with my plan in an reckless manner, just in case there is a way to get out of here alive somehow. I furrowed my eyebrows as Itachi jumped out from the darkness and stood in the middle of me, Kisame and Hidan.

I avoided looking at him at all. I am good at dispelling Genjutsu's, although I have never experienced Itachi's power behind his eyes for myself...I've only heard horrible stories. He sped towards me at an extreme speed with a kunai hidden up his sleeve. I flinched involuntarily as he struck the side of my ribs. I scowled at him and grabbed his wrist before plunging my kunai in his throat. His body dissembled into herds of crows and scattered into the sky.

I examined my surroundings and noticed that the Akatsuki had left the scene. I scowled further at nothing in particular. They must have hid somewhere. Before I could use my chakra to search for their location I heard a short sound coming from behind me so I twisted around on the spot sharply and threw a kunai in the direction of the sound.

"GAH!?" I heard a loud grunt from a familiar voice. My eyes widened, that voice belonged to Naruto. He stumbled in my view and landed on his knees with my kunai deeply embedded in his throat. I started shaking while my knees gave up on themselves, causing me to kneel on the ground, harshly scraping my knees against the jagged rocks beneath me.

"Naruto, W-What..." I started, my voice shaking a lot. I held back the tears that threatened to fall. "I thought y-you were-" I continued trying to examine his body for any sign of possible healing. I hit one of the worst vital points on a person.

"Sakura...S-Sasuke, he-" Naruto chocked on his words as blood escaped his body rapidly. I shook my head and stood up at my own stupidity. This isn't real, I've already been caught in Itachi's genjutsu.

"Kai." I muttered mostly to myself. Nothing was happening. The darkness was slowly started to consume me. I closed my eyes tightly and concentrated on countering his chakra with my own. "Release." I repeated with more confidence in my tone. Gradually the Genjutsu started fading and I was struggling for air. I realised that I was pinned against a tree and Itachi had his face pretty close to mine. It was actually quite intimidating, I have to say that I despise close proximities. I found that my left arm was trapped by his right hand so I aimed a punch at his face with my fist infused with as much chakra as I could use. My first nearly hit Itachi right in the face if it wasn't for Kisame striking my wrist with his sword and keeping it to the right side of my body.

I failed...I've failed everyone. This is where I'm going to die...In the land of nowhere in between the land of fire and the land of water. I tried to used my legs to knee Itachi harshly but, as if my intentions were spoken out loud, Hidan's scythe had cut across my thighs to hold me back.

I didn't let any tears out that were waiting behind my eyes. That would be stupid in the face of the enemies. I could feel my consciousness going, my eyes weighing down slowly and my head pounding for oxygen.

"Give it up." Hidan smirked menacingly while embedding the scythe further into my skin. "Aren't you going to scream?" He added. I just about gained enough strength to spit in Hidans face. I could feel that he wasn't happy with this and that he had injured me somehow but my lack breath took over my body as I started numbing out.

I started dying and it feels like the worst thing in the world.

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Second Chapter and I was hoping for it to be longer . Please do tell me if you find any mistakes with spelling or grammar and please leave a review so I can change my story into something that you might be interested in :3

xXx


	3. Chapter 3

**Act Three - No way out [Kakashi's P.O.V]**

I'd been awake most of the night, occasionally snoozing off when the warmth invited me to sleep. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but something didn't seem right today. I looked out at the window and saw that it was raining lightly. The village looked somewhat as if it was weeping...I shook my head and chuckled slightly. I must be tired or something.

I looked down at my book and stared at it for a while. I wanted to read through it, but something just stopped me from doing so. I sighed loudly and stood up.

"I guess I'll see if there is any news with Tsunade." I said out loud while watching the rain race down my window. I stood there for a while, not many civilians were about today. I frowned and shook off the bad feeling.

I slowly walked to my mask and put it on, with the rest of my clothes and opened my door.

"You're up early Kakashi. The sun is barely up and it's raining," I looked slightly to my left to find Jiraiya standing against a wall. I looked over to him and nodded at him in acknowledgement. "There must be something that's bugging you." His warming smile was slowly fading. I looked over at him with interest. Maybe he knows something.

"Yeah, I can't shake off this bad feeling I have." I responded, hoping he'd have an answer.

"I feel the same way. Although I don't know if it's just the weather playing up. It was supposed to be hot as anything today," He walked in front of me and stared into my eyes for a while. I closed my eyes and sighed again.

"Maybe we drank too much sake last night. I couldn't sleep a wink." Jiraiya started smirking and turned his back on me.

"Maybe. Let's see if there is any news with Tsunade." I nodded slightly and followed Jiraiya's fast pace walking.

"Any news on the Akatsuki's movements?" I asked curiously, he shook his head slowly.

"I'm still researching about what they're up to. Other than that I see fit that I should give a visit to the rain village..." He muttered on longer. I raised my eyebrows to question his reason, and as if he saw me he coughed slightly. "From intelligence I've recently gathered, I have reason to believe that the leader of the Akatsuki may be a symbolic figure to that village." He explained vaguely. I excepted his answer while we were nearing the gates to the hokage tower.

"How Is Naruto and Sakura coping with the failure of retreiving Sasuke?" Jiraiya's voice seemed to become serious and dark. I bowed my head slightly and looked over to my left to faintly see the old Uchiha compound.

"Naruto, I believe is taking it worse than Sakura. He's been training non-stop since he got back." I answered I looked ahead of me. Jiraiya stopped walking for a moment before continuing to open the front doors to the Hokage tower.

"What about Sakura?" He questioned, I frowned slightly, so I'm not allowed to give vague information but he is...I suppose he is one of the legendary Sanin after all...

"Sakura has been outside of the village recently, close to the border so that she can research and discover new herbs and spices for her new healing jutsu project. She'll be back before noon today." I informed. Jiraiya nodded his head as we walked through the hallways.

There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched around the tower. It uneased me slightly to say in the least. We reached Tsunade's door. Jiraiya knocked on the door a few times before taking a step back.

There wasn't a responce. Before Jiraiya could knock again, someone has stumbled down from the hallway with a load of paperwork. I looked over to Jiraiya as he smirked and walked towards the paperwork to pick it up.

"Hey Tsunade." He greeted as I walked slightly to my left to see her. She smiled and stood up with the remaining paperwork in her arms.

"Jiraiya, I'm just starting my duties. You must be really desperate to tell me something if you're here this early." she stated before walking to her office to unlock it. She balanced her paperwork to one side as she entered.

"Actually, me and Kakashi were hoping to ask you if any bad news has been around." He said as politely as he could. Tsunade looked back at Jiraiya with slitted eyes and a blank expression on her face to accompany them.

"You feel it too huh?" She set her paperwork and leaned back on her desk as Jiraiya laid the rest of the paperwork next to her. "I've had this feeling since I approved Sakura on her personal mission." She said. "But I'm sure it's got to be something more than that."

"Sakura can handle herself well in battle." I looked behind me to see Captain Yamato in the doorway. "I've seen the way she fights and she excells in healing. I'm more than sure that it's not Sakura that's making everyone feel uneasy." He finished. He walked into the office and closed the door behind him. He bowed to Tsunade quickly and looked her in the eyes.

"I completely agree with you Yamato." She started before looking out of the window. "It's raining..." She stated obviously. "Today is the day that the 3rd Hokage fell in battle. It's as if the village is in mourning." She started to bite down on her thumbnail. I looked down and at my hand. I wish I held more strength back then...

"There might be more to it...Tsunade I have a personal request." Jiraiya broke the small silence. Tsunade looked in his direction, her face showed the slightest bit of fear.

"What is it Jiraiya?" She questioned. Jiraiya looked over at me before looking back at Tsunade.

"I'd like to take Naruto and Kakashi out of the village to search for Sakura if she doesn't come back to the village today." The room grew earily quiet while the rain tapped lightly on the windows. "Maybe my suspicions are wrong and I'm mistaking this feeling for something else. But my gut instict is telling me that it has something to do with Sakura." He finished. Tsunade closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'll admit. I feel the same way. So I'll grant you your mission only if Sakura doesn't return by tomorrow morning. If that is the case, you are to report to me in the morning with your full team in here at 6AM sharp before you depart from the village." She responded before looking up at me. "Are you willing to be a part of Jiraiya's personal mission Hatake?" She looked in my eyes, hers filled with emotion. I nodded my head and looked back at her.

"Yes Lady Tsunade." I replied before walking over to the door. "I'll have a word with Naruto before you do, Jiraiya." I looked over at him first to get his confirmation. He nodded and smirked slightly.

"I'll come with you." Captain Yamato spoke up. I looked at him blankly for a moment. He held up a frog purse and smiled. "He forgot his wallet, that and I'd like a small discussion with him before you brief him on the possible mission." He continued as I reluctantly nodded.

We both headed out of the Hokage tower and walked in the direction of Naruto's house.

"How are the team working along with Sai recently?" I asked, breaking the silence. Yamato looked off into the distance it seemed before looking over at me.

"From what I can gather. Naruto is having slight trust issues with him, but it's not as bad as when he first met Sai." He finished his sentence abruptly. I wore a blank expression before sighing softly.

"What about Sakura?" I questioned, reminding myself of Jiraiya only minutes ago. Yamato looked at me before jumping somewhat.

"Oh yeah, Sai seems to admire Sakura somewhat. Whether it's an interest in her fighting or her words, it's one of the two. The both of them get along pretty well." He answered hurriedly.

We travelled the rest of the journey in silence before we reached Naruto's door. Yamato knocked on the door a few times. No responce. He knocked again and there were almost inaudible shuffles heard behind the door.

Naruto opened the door in just his boxers. He looked up at us with a confused expression.

"Kakashi Sensei, Captain Yamato, what are you guys doing here?" He yawned as Yamato handed over Naruto's wallet. Naruto's eyes lightened up slightly as he took the purse from Yamato.

"Thank you Captain Yamato!" He said while smiling. Yamato coughed before crossing his arms.

"You're welcome, You are to meet me and Sai in the training grounds at 8PM today. Sakura should be back to join us by then." He said before turning to me. "All yours." He jumped off and Naruto groaned slightly.

I sighed before inviting myself into his house.

"I have some things to talk to you about Naruto, regarding Sakura." I stated as Naruto closed the door.

"If it's about that injury on her arm, then I-" Naruto started before I turned to face him.

"It's not about that." I interupted. He looked at me blankly before allowing me to continue. "There is a small possibility that we may have to search for Sakura tomorrow, alongside Jiraiya." I straight out said it because beating around the bush with Naruto would eventually just stress him out. His fist clenched slightly.

"Why? Where is she?" He said abruptly. I was silent for a while before Naruto's eyes grew more impatient.

"She is on a personal mission to collect new herbs on the border of the land of fire. Although both me and Jiraiya have a bad feeling and we can't quite pinpoint what it is," I started before putting my hands in my pocket. "But maybe she'll be back at noon today. Maybe we're both being paranoid." I finished. Naruto nodded and stretched his arms above his head.

"She'll be back before then. I'm sure of it." Naruto grinned. "I mean, picking herbs? Who is she going to run into while doing that? The Akatsuki?" He joked before looking back at me with determined eyes. I chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, as I said. It's just for caution." I tried to reassure myself. It was probably all in my head.

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A.N D: I've only woken up before my work and wrote this xD Pretty chuffed with myself that I could keep a chapter going for this long . But I do hope to make each chapter after this on longer :3 So It's more pleasurable to read :D Thank you for reading this so far ^^; It's started off a bit slow But I hope to make it more exciting to read in the future D:

((Also I'm reading through this right now and noticing some spelling mistakes . Please bear with me.))

xXx


	4. Chapter 4

**Act Four - Back to Sakura**

I was slowly regaining consciousness. My lungs felt extremely tight as if my oxygen intake was limited. I coughed involuntarily, making my throat sore. I slowly opened my eyes and was faced with pure darkness.

I was confused for a moment. Where am I? I tried using my nose to see if I could smell anything familiar but instantly regretting it when the horrid stench of rotting bodies hit my nose instantly. I gagged violently and tried moving. My legs were free and able to move but my arms seemed to be held back by some sort of unique chakra cuff.

I tried to calm my breathing before trying to negate the chakra with my own. The chakra cuffs started to sting my hands and spread through my whole body but I knew that what I was doing was slowly working, so I'd have to endure this pain before I get out of these restraints.

I gritted my teeth and grunted slightly while exerting more of my chakra into the cuffs. The pain was slowly getting worse at first. But moments before I broke the cuffs a sudden jolt of electricity sped through my body.

"Urgh!" I shouted horsely as I remained my concentration on negating the chakra cuffs. After a short burst of excruciating pain the cuffs broke and I fell to the ground. The was a small splash as my feet hit the ground.

My lungs still felt limited to oxygen. So the cuffs weren't doing that...I winced at the sudden pain in my ribs. Oh yeah, that's right...I've been caught by the Akatsuki. My eyes widened slightly. They didn't kill me...That only means that they're keeping me for information about Naruto.

I tutted silently as I moved my hand over my wound. I quickly examined it and sighed in relief when I figured out that it was nothing critical. I started to heal it as I heard faint footsteps. Is there someone else in here with me? I tried to use my chakra to estimate how big the room was, but concluded that I must be in here by myself, It wasn't a big room at all. My wound had closed up as the rattling of keys were heard outside the room I was in.

I stood up and prepared myself. My legs felt sore but I could tell that the wounds had already healed by themselves, My right hand seemed to be damaged, so I couldn't use that hand to fight. My heart was pounding. I have nothing to lose now. They have my belongings so they'll have a list of every herb available to their desires around the border of the land of fire. They also have the herb they need for the antidote. So they only need information from me now. So if I die it won't matter to them...But they don't want me dead so I could play that into my advantage.

The door opened widely and I adjusted to the brightness that invaded my eyes. After a second I saw a silhouette at the door and rushed towards it with my left fist pumping what remaining chakra I had left. I roared as I landed a hit on the figure, which hit the back of the wall, causing it to crack and I heard their skull crush as it came into contact with the wall. My whole body was in pain but I'm not prepared to give up. I mean, what would Naruto think? I refrained from sneezing and rushed out of the room and decided to go left without looking at the person who I attacked.

There seemed to be loads of doors that looked like mine. Where exactly am I? This place reminded me of Orochimaru's hideout...layout wise at least. I sprinted forwards, hoping to find and exit, although the best I could find was stairs leading to the next floor.

I jumped up the stairs hoping to find some sort of sign of an exit. It wasn't long before I entered a huge room full of dull colours and a small amount of posters. I ran past a group of people. I quickly took a glance to my left and saw that some members of the Akatsuki were in casual clothing eating, what seemed like, breakfast.

Before I could reach the door at the end I heard one of the members stand up from table.  
"Hey!" He shouted with a mouth full of food. I smirked slightly before noticing that the door was locked. It looked like a standard lock so I prepared my left side with a small barrier of my chakra as I effortlessly barged through the door. I could see light coming from a few metres ahead of myself. That must be the exit.

I smiled slightly to myself. I could make it out of this situation after all. I sprinted faster towards the exit, being careful not to trip on anything. My eyes adjusted to the natural brightness of the outdoors. It looked as if it was raining, but the fresh smell was such a pleasant one to experience after being held up in that room for who knows how long.

I was slowly getting more and more out of breath so I started panting. I was so close to the exit before something grabbed my ankles and pulled me back harshly. I squealed slightly as I braced myself for a harsh impact. I managed to prevent and damage to my head but both my arms landed on the ground with enough force to break my wrists.

Before I could even think of trying to escape whatever was around my ankles, I got pulled back. I turned my body around to face the huge room I just passed. I cried inside. I could have gotten away...If I didn't let my guard down for that split second I could have avoided the attack and slipped away...Not that I could have gone very far with the physical state that my body was currently in.

"That was naughty." I looked to my right to see Hidan. I scowled at him while being pulled closer to the table the Akatsuki were around. I've seen how Kabuto used his chakra as a scalpel blade, so it wouldn't hurt to try, right? I focused my chakra into my hand and slashed at the tendrils around my ankles, wincing at the pain of my broken wrist.

I shocked myself to see that it worked. I was about to get to my feet but more tendrils wrapped around my whole body and pulled me harshly above the table. I looked to my right and could see the masked man behind the attack. He had eyes a few shades away from my own and had an eiree feeling about him.

He hung me upside down in the middle of the table and I stared blankly at him.

"Stop playing games," a voice bored behind me. I was going to try and face him but I knew I was only going to make myself look like an idiot. Instead I focused on healing any small wounds that I had, that didn't include my broken wrists.

"Well," Deidara started, I looked at the seat next to the tendril guy. Deidara's face seemed extremely smug, which was something I didn't like. "We were going to collect you just now...Where is your escort?" He questioned playfully. I smirked slightly.

I head foot steps enter the room dragging something that sounded heavy. I looked over at the entrance and saw Kisame dragging a limp body behind him. I didn't recognise the person he was carrying but they were definitely dead...they must have been a mere civilian. I frowned slightly.

"Ah," He started before looking up at me. "I was about to inform you about a dead person in the hallway. His skull is broken and he's pretty much dead." He stressed the last word and dumped the dead body on the ground. I felt sick. I could feel the colour going from my skin...I just killed a weak civilian. I held the strong urge to throw up and concentrated on breathing deeply.

"What a waste..." A heard a soft female voice from behind me. I sighed quietly.

"If you let me go then I wouldn't have to go and kill everybody," I started while I sharply darted my eyes in the masked guy's direction. "You'll be next." I threatened. His eyes turned into a harsh glare as he tightened the tendrils wrapped around my body.

"You'll watch your mouth, weak kunoichi." He teased as I gritted my teeth. I resisted the urge to yelp in pain as the tendrils tightened further.

"Watch out," Deidara started while raising his arms up. "She's pretty strong you know, she did kill my partner after all." He playfully chuckled. I struggled harder for my breath.

"I'm going to tend to late business. I'll be off." the female voice said before standing up and leaving the room. I was hoping to get a glance of her face. But she left the room from what seemed like a different exit.

Kisame walked towards the table and started to lean his face closer to mine while smiling menacingly. I didn't have any energy to speak to him to tell him to back off.

"So, how was Sasuke?" He asked. I felt the tendrils getting slightly looser. I looked at him in a confused manner. Why would he want to know about Sasuke?

"So, how about I punch your face in when I get out of these restraints?" I hissed back. He smirked further and leaned back.

"Suit yourself." he said before turning around to look at the masked guy. I felt the tendrils unwind from my body and I had to quickly react and land on my feet on the table. I'd just about healed my body enough to move swiftly, everything other than my right arm was ready to use easily.

Kisame didn't give me a second before he reached his arm out to try and strangle me. This was perfect for what Neji taught me a while back. I dodged his hand and used my left arm to touch a pressure point in his arm with a good bit of force.

He gritted his teeth and his once light expression had turned serious. I jumped off the table and contemplated on running towards the exit. I saw that a weird green man was blocking the way. I sighed inwardly before looking around to find some sort of weapon laying around. the best I could find was a rusty looking salmon knife on the counter...behind the table.

Kisame span round on the spot and ran towards me with his sword ready in his hand. I waited until he was a good few metres from me until I started running. He swung his sword violently. I slid underneath him just in time. A few millimetres of my hair cut off along the slide though.

I sprinted for the knife and I could feel that Kisame was hot on my trail, so I quickly picked the knife up in my left hand and I had to jump off the wall and and strike in the direction of his face. He had to dodge it and hold the sword behind his back to avoid my attack completely.

I held the sharp end of the knife and threw the handle at Kisame. He looked at it confused as to why it wasn't the sharp end facing him. I took this opportunity to speed towards him and landed a strong punch to his face with my right fist. His head seemed too stubborn to turn to left to prevent any more pain...but I guess my punch would have made more damage if my wrist wasn't broken...and he knew that himself. I could feel a small amount of bones shattering in my hand as I pulled my fist back and stood in front of him.

"I give up, You want a fair fight, wait until I'm fully healed and rested." I said while hovering my left hand over my my right wrist Kisame looked down at me and glared. He held his cheek and walked back over the table.

"While you are here you will address everyone as master, Understood?" I turned around and saw an orange headed guy, who kinda reminded me of Naruto but with loads of piercings, had stared at me plainly into my eyes. I simply scoffed.

"Over my dead body." I hissed. He seemed to be losing his patience. His eyes narrowed at me.

"You do understand what position you are in? You might not die here, but I can make you feel like you're being killed in the worst ways ten thousand times over. So lose the attitude." He said plainly. I sighed before looking over at the table.

I stood there awkwardly with wide eyes. Should I sit down with them, there was a spare seat next to the ginger dude but am I even allowed to sit there? Even if I was allowed I wouldn't even want to. I mean, who eats breakfast with their enemy? I certainly wouldn't want to. Personally, I'd rather starve to death.

"Sit." His voice made me jump slightly from the suddenness. I hesitantly walked over to the seat next to him and sat down. My body was extremely tense as I looked round the table slowly. Am I really sitting around a table, about to eat food, with the Akatsuki.

I started to get a bit light headed before Deidara stood up.

"What do you want to eat?" He asked reluctantly. I looked over at him and stared at him for a while.

"If I'm eating then I'd rather cook for myself." I stated, trying to sound polite...but not?

"We can't trust you to cook in case you add in an extra ingredient that can kill you." Deidara responded before walking over to the oven. "I'm cooking you what we had. I cannot be fucked waiting for what you want to eat, sorry for trying to be polite." I raised an eyebrow before looking around the table. Everyone was going about their business as usual, which irritated me somewhat.

My eyes roamed slowly at each member of the Akatsuki until they eventually met with Itachi's crimson ones. I didn't know what to do, should I just look away? They were drawing me in somewhat. He stared at me a little longer before looking down at his plate of food. I smirked slightly. I won that little stair off.

"I'm not here to play mere games, Haruno." He muttered. No one else seemed to take any notice of what he said. I sighed as a hot plate of food was served infront of me. I looked at it in shock. It didn't looked burned at all, even some of the best hotels in Konoha have at least one thing on their plate burned.

"Are you a vegetarian..?" I turned around to face Deidara. His body was still leaned partially near the table from setting the plate down. I stared into his eyes for a moment. A tint of pink dusted my cheeks as I stroked a strand of my hair out of my face.

"N-No, definitely not," I started while turning around again. "Thank you." I thought I'd had to at least be polite, kind actions aren't to be taken so lightly if they're genuine... I felt a nudge at my side. I looked over to see the ginger dude glaring at me. I gagged on my own words before they even left my lips. "Master." I said somewhat in a harsh tone. I looked back over to my food and my heart just dropped.

I'm not going to get out of here any time soon...Lady Tsunade will be extremely disappointed in me.

* * *

O-O Glad this chapter is all over and done with D: I think the layout of these chapters will flick between Sakura and someone from the Leaf village . Just so I give myself more Idea's as to what I can do with the story :3 Also

Personally I would Love to give a huge thank you to cutehoney4 who has been reviewing my chapters so far ^_^ I really appreciate it 3

((I'll be reading through this chapter once I upload it just in case I see any spelling/grammatical mistakes))

xXx


	5. Chapter 5

**Act Five - Slight Panic [Naruto's P.O.V]**

Kakashi had left my house around two hours ago and I'm just here sitting around in my boxers with my arms behind my head on my bed, pointlessly wasting time looking at the photograph to my left.

I sighed before closing my eyes. We were so close to Sasuke only weeks ago... I sat up slowly and looked outside the window. The rain had stopped and it the sun was shining down on the village. I smiled before rushing out of my bed to get changed.

"No time like the present to train more!" I shouted while putting my headband on. I rushed outside to see Shikamaru's team gathered up in one corner.

"Hey! Shikamaru! Choji!" I greeted loudly as I ran towards them.

"Hey Naruto." Shikamaru said unenthusiastically. Choji smiled and waved at me.

"Hi Naruto. What are you doing out and about today?" He questioned. My eyes widened slightly before I sweat dropped and scratched the back of my head.

"You know what? I don't actually know, ha ha..." I laughed, I heard Shikamaru sigh.

"You're always the same..." He commented quietly as I looked over at Ino. She was looking off into the distance somewhere. Was she sulking?

"Hey Ino!" I said as she turned to face me.

"What is it Naruto?" She replied, I think that was supposed to be my greeting from her. I frowned.

"What's up? You seem pretty down if you ask me." I responded. She scoffed before turning her back towards the group.

"I didn't ask you." She darted off, leaving me, Choji and Shikamaru confused.

"Women. So troublesome..." I turned back round to face the two guys.

"Do you guys know what's bothering her?" I questioned, hoping that one of them would at least have an idea.

"Now that you mention it," Choji answered after a short pause. "She did say that she felt sick this morning. But it's weird for her to be this moody over being ill." I sighed and looked around the village.

"She'll get over it. What should I do today?" I said out loud.

"Hey! You could always visit the Village hidden in the sand with me and Shikamaru! We're going to see Temari." My face lit up before it slowly turned into a frown.

"I can't go." I stated vaguely.

"We're not allowed more than two people travelling freely to the sand village anyway Choji, Konoha needs other ninja's to stay back for missions. You should know that." Shikamaru informed. I sighed in relief that I didn't have to explain myself.

"That's a shame." Choji frowned. I saw Captain Yamato in the corner of my eye trying to catch my attention so I smiled awardly at the two in front of me.

"That's alright! Tell Temari I said hi," I started running off. "And Gaara!" I added before slowly getting closer to Captain Yamato...I wonder what he wants from me.

"Naruto." He greeted before I stopped in front of him

"What is it Captain Yamato?" I questioned. He looked down at me weirdly. I pulled a face, waiting for him to answer me.

"Can I ask you a small favour?" He said finally, my shoulders dropped slowly in relief.

"Yeah sure," I replied as he took a small item out of his pocket. I recognised these. "Wait a second, these are-"

"Yeah, I want you to try and sneak that into Jiraiya's and Kakashi's meal." He interrupted me. I looked at him unsurely before looking down at the three seeds.

"And you want me to have one too?" I stated obviously. He nodded and put his hand on my shoulder.

"As much as Lady Tsunade doesn't want me involved in this personal mission. I can't help but think that something bad might happen." He continued. I stowed the seeds away and nodded.

"Alright. How am I going to pay for the food I buy for them?" I asked, with a smirk on my face. Captain Yamato sighed and reluctantly handed me over some cash.

"Here, that should be enough to cover you guys. I'll be going now, catch you later in the training grounds Naruto. Make sure that you eat with enough time for the food to go down when you get there." He swiftly darted off in the direction of the village gates. I giggled to myself before taking my wallet out.

"Heh heh, two points for Naruto." I said as I put my wallet back in my pocket and I saw Jiraiya and Kakashi walking next to each other on cue.

"HEY! KAKASHI! JIRAIYA!" I shouted while running towards them. They continued walking but had noticed that I was trying to get their attention.

"You're as loud as ever, Naruto." Jiraiya commented as I caught up with them.

"Heh, Yeah! That's true," I agreed before Kakashi turned his head to face me. "Oh yeah, I was going to try out cooking today and I wanted you guys to try it!" I lied, Kakashi chuckled.

"A free meal is a free meal I guess," Kakashi looked over at Jiraiya. "How about you?"

Jiraiya stopped walking, as did Kakashi, and turned to face me.

"Unfortunately for you, Naruto, I have some research to do. Sorry." He stated. I gulped. How am I supposed to go about that?

"Well," Kakashi turned back to face me. "You can count me in Naruto. I'll be at the door for 4PM." He said before walking off with Jiraiya.

"Okay! I'll be ready by then!" I stood still as they started to fade from my view. "I don't know how to cook." I stated to myself. "Oh my god, I don't know how to cook! What am I going to do?" I looked around frantically for an answer before my mind thought of someone instantly, and as if it was by mere coincidence, she was standing there in the distance under the shade. "HINATA!" I yelled while sprinting towards her.

She looked up at me and I could visibly see that her face was turning red. With long hair like hers she must not take too well to the heat.

"N-Naruto?" She said as I stood in front of her.

"Hey Hinata! You know how to cook, right?" I started as she looked up at me with slight confusion. "I've seen you make snacks for Kiba and Akamaru and even Shino! I need your help." I admitted.

She started up at me with a slight frown as her face grew more red.

"I-I ugh, Sure Naruto." She slowly stood up and walked towards me. "U-Um, do you know what you want to cook?" She asked as we started walking in the direction of my house. I stretched my arms over my head and smiled unsurely.

"Nope," I started before turning my head to look at her. "But, Kakashi will be there and I'm supposed to cook a meal..." I started while trying to think about how to put Yamato's tracking device on there. "Oh! And it has to include something seedy. Kakashi likes seeds." I finished, Hinata nodded her head slighty.

"And, Uh. Do you have any cooking ingredients at home?" My face dropped. I forgot that I had to actually use different items to cook with.

"Uh...No." I stretched out before taking out my wallet. "But, I do have money to buy stuff." I sighed silently in relief as Hinata turned to walk in a different direction. "Hey, where are you going Hinata?" I asked, She stopped walking and turned back to face me.

"We're getting ingredients from the local stands." She replied. I had to pause and think for a moment before walking next to her.

"Oh yeah." I said stupidly. We walked the rest of the journey in silence. The stands weren't so far away. I looked back over to Hinata and noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual outfit. She was wearing a short black dress with some thrilly things near the collar of it. "You look nice today Hinata." I commented out loud. She looked at me and into my eyes for a few seconds before looking away.

"U-ugh, yeah. N-Neji picked this out for me." She said while walking faster. I sped up too as we reached the shops.

"So, what do you plan on helping me cook with?" I questioned as we entered the shops.

* * *

Sorry for the shorter chapter . I'm actually in the middle of writing the next chapter D: I think I might make that one extra long for you guys :3

Thank you for reading

xXx


	6. Chapter 6

**Act Six - No Torture**

I finally picked up my fork and looked down at the food. I am so hungry but it feels so wrong to be casually sitting with the enemy. Eating breakfast...My mind still wasn't proccessing it all.

"Eat, Sakura." I looked up to see Itachi again. I stared at him for longer this time. "You will need the energy if you are to be treated like a normal person." He said as I raised an eyebrow.

"Otherwise you'll be kept in the dungeons _every_ night, and who knows what will happen to you there. Maybe some weird stuff..." Hidan answered for Itachi. I looked over at him and he wore a smug expression. "Unless you like it like that." It didn't take me a second to pick up the tissue laid down next to my fork and scrunch it up into a dense ball and throw it at his face. "Ow," He said picking up the ball and throwing it at the masked guy next to him.

"Hidan, That is a tissue. Tissues are soft. Throw that at me again and I'll kill you." He muttered while I smirked at Hidan.

"Fuck...It kinda hurt the way she threw it you know..." Hidan sulked while rubbing his nose. He looked over at me and glared at me. I smirked further before eating a piece of bacon from my plate with some mushrooms.

As I was chewing on it the flavours just exploded in my mouth, the temperature of the food was perfect too.

"Mmm, this is so tasty!" I said out loud, I straightened my back and glanced at Deidara for a moment. He wore an arrogant expression and coughed lightly.

"At least Sa-ku-ra appreciates my cooking." He stated, I giggled silently and my cheeks heated up a bit.

"That's such a cute thing to say from a mouth like yours." I responded out loud again. I was starting to hate myself for saying my thoughts out loud.

"What do you mean?" He asked looking at me. We stared for a while before I frowned slightly. Did I offend him? Wait, why do I care about his feelings. "Oh, you mean like from a mouth of a criminal?" He questioned looking at my face for the slightlest flicker of emotion. I furrowed my eyebrows and went back to eating my food.

He chuckled loudly before getting up from his seat.

"Don't worry about it. You'll get used to us eventually," He started while walking next to Itachi and throwing an arm around him. "You'll find that Itachi-kun is the cutest and most sensitive of us all."

I couldn't refrain the full blown laughter that escaped my lips. Itachi? Sensitive? He killed his whole clan, leaving Sasuke to fend for himself. And hearing that Deidara called him cute, that was just hilarious, I could feel my face heat up more as tears brewed up behind my eyes.

"You'll do well to avoid me for the next few years, Deidara." Itachi said in a dark tone. Deidara held his hand up and took a few steps back.

"Don't get so defensive, I was only telling Sakura how you're like." He continued, I giggled a bit more and wiped the tear from my eye. Deidara and Itachi reminded me of Naruto and Sasuke slightly.

"Uh." I said out loud before continuing to eat my food. Did I really just think that? I really don't plan on staying in this place. Let alone having the Akatsuki as a friend.

"I'll be going to pick up Sasori's remains before someone gets their filthy hands on him." Deidara stated before walking to the exit.

"Bring him back here, I'm going to try something out...Something," The ginger guy spoke up again. "New." Deidara nodded before leaving.

I finished my plate within the next couple of minutes. That meal has to be the best meal I've had in a while.

"You will be accompanied by Itachi whilst you get a change of clothes and wash yourself," The ginger dude spoke up again before standing up. "You reek of blood and sweat. I'm aware that you're a medic ninja. So you can just heal your own wounds." He stated before heading to the exit that woman must have gone out of when I was hanging upside down.

I closed my eyes momentarily and sighed. I'm not going to be getting out of here any time soon...I'll just have to gain their trust and crush them when they're most vulnerable.

"Hurry up." Itachi broke my trail of thoughts. I looked up to see him stood behind his seat. I hesitantly got up out of my seat and picked up my plate. Before I could turn around with it, Itachi walked over and took the plate out of my hand. I stood there blankly staring at the wall in front of me for a few moments before following him out of the room after he placed the dishes on the side.

We walked out of the second exit and headed down a more colourful hallway. Everything seemed to be immaculate. I looked at the back of Itachi's head and just wondered what was going on in there...

"What drives a person to kill their whole clan?" I muttered out loud. I face-palmed slightly as Itachi seemed to slow his pace down momentarily before speeding up again.

"What makes you think that I would tell you something so private, weak kunoichi?" He responded. I must have hit a sensitive spot. I simply smirked and chuckled slightly.

"You know, Sasuke wants to kill you," I started before coughing lightly. "He's changed a lot from what he used to be." I tilted my head to the side a bit. "Although in the situation I'm in now. I'm going to make sure I kill you first." I finished. I heard his deep voice scoff slightly.

"You can try. You're a very Naive girl you know Sakura." He said lightly before opening a door to his right. I entered after him and was shocked by how huge this bathroom was.

"This is huge." I stated obviously. I walked closer to the bath placed in the middle of the room. This was unreal, It looked so heavenly. A clean citrus-y scent hit my nose softly and I felt relaxed just standing in this room.

"I'll be monitoring you," Itachi stated before scraping of chair legs on the floor were heard. "You know, in case you do something...idiotic." He finished I ignored him and started to run the bath. I noticed that there was a deep red bottle of bubble bath placed next to the taps so I put loads in the tub...I don't want Itachi to actually see me naked at all...I mean, how embarrassing is that.

"You know Sakura, I'm not a pervert." Itachi's voice said in a mutter. I jumped and my face heated up.

"You know," I started, my voice a bit high and shaky."_Itachi,_ I'm not used to stripping completely naked in front of S ranked criminals, Let alone my old comrades brother." I retorted childishly. I heard a really quiet chuckle before I returned to watching the bath fill up gradually. If I can escape this place...I could even be strong enough to...

I stopped thinking for a moment. I just realised Itachi was answering my thoughts.

"Wait," I started while turning the taps off as the water willed 3/4 of the bath. "Can you hear what I'm thinking?" I asked gingerly. This caused a reaction I didn't want. Itachi simply chuckled momentarily before clearing his throat.

"No Sakura. You're just a predictable person." He responded in a low tone. I sighed and closed my eyes. He was lying. I'm not predictable.

I reluctantly took off my clothes and stepped into the bath before sitting back in it somewhat quickly. This didn't feel too comfortable because of Itachi being here, but I could sit in this bath all day. The warm water stung slightly on my wounds but it helped me heal them too.

I focused a bit of my chakra into my shattered wrist and it slowly, but surely, healed up to nothing more than a bad bruise. Either this is water is infused with extra chakra, or that bubble bath had something to do with the aid of my healing speed...or both.

My whole body was almost completely healed. I was impressed I started to lay back into the bath and close my eyes.

"You're supposed to call me master." Itachi said, making me open my eyes and turn my head to face his direction.

"What? What are you talking about?" I questioned. He pause before sighing quietly.

"You called me by my first name earlier." He stated, I blankly turned my head and looked at the taps. Like I care or even want to call him master.

There was a long silence and the warmth of the bath was slowly relaxing my muscles more and unwillingly was dragging me into a deep sleep.

* * *

Another short chapter . SORRY GUYS! But the next chapter should be more interesting for you guys!

Please review? :3

xXx


	7. Chapter 7

**Act Seven - No Time Like Right Now [Kakashi's P.O.V]**

I aimlessly walked around the village. Jiraiya had already set off to sort out the reports he'd need to fill out for his personal mission with me and Naruto tomorrow. I wonder why he feels so uneasy about Sakura...

"Hi Kakashi!" I heard someone shriek. I winced slightly and looked over to my left.

"Hey Tenten," I started before looking around for the rest of her team. "Uh, where are the rest of your team. Aren't you supposed to be on an A ranked mission today?" I inquired as she sweat-dropped.

"Ugh yeah, I was going to ask you the same thing actually." I sighed before walking towards her.

"Unfortunately for you, I haven't seen the rest of team Gai since-" I started.

"There you are, Tenten!" Gai shouted. I turned my head and saw Gai standing there with Neji and Lee.

"Found them." I stated sarcastically before walking in the direction of my house. "No need to thank me," I muttered before waving my hand. "I'll talk to you guys later, I have business to tend to." I stated before Gai could try and talk to me. I wasn't in the mood for his extreme positivity this morning. I could feel a headache coming.

"O-kay, Kakashi. See you later!" He responded. I started walking at a slower pace. Maybe I should roam near the border to see if I can spot Sakura. What Jiraiya said to me before Naruto invited me to dinner really unsettled me.

I finally sighed and decided that I'd go outside the village. Without another wasted moment I darted out of Konoha and started heading to the border.

After ten minutes of jumping from branch to branch, I was a good few miles out of the village before I came across a log cabin. I stopped on a tree branch and looked at it. This cabin definitely looks out of place. I jumped down from the tree and inspected the cabin a bit closer. This was Yamato's Jutsu. what is he doing out here.

I walked around to the entrance of the cabin and opened the door. I searched the whole area but Yamato was nowhere to be seen. I sighed quietly before heading towards the exit.

"What are you doing here Kakashi?" Yamato said while entering the cabin and closing the door behind him.

I leaned to the side and gave him a blank expression.

"I could say the exact same thing to you." Yamato sighed loudly and walked over to me.

"I can't help thinking that there's a small truth behind Jiraiya's words. I feel that Sakura may be in danger. And to me, It's more than a gut instinct because I know she's in trouble." My eyes widened. He knows she's in trouble?

"Why didn't you tell the Hokage? And how do you know she's in trouble?" I asked in an authoritative tone. He turned in my direction and frowned. He held out a yellow-ish seed which looked slightly dirty.

"I know I shouldn't have. But right after Sai, Sakura and Naruto came back from failing to retrieve Sasuke. I treated them out to a meal and Sakura was acting weird. So while she wan't looking I slipped the seed into her kunai pouch." He stated before handing me over the seed to look at. I took it from him and examined it.

"It's as if someone has stood on this." I said. Yamato nodded slowly.

"I found this a mile east away from the border...I think she's chased after Sasuke by herself after discovering the hidden seed in her pouch." I looked up at him again before examining the seed a bit closer. She can't have gone off on her own...Sakura isn't stupid...

"Wait," I said out loud. I looked at the slight pattern on the seed and noticed that it wouldn't have matched Sakura's shoes. "Don't call me a creep or anything, this faint shoe mark here," I started pointing around the mark. "Doesn't match Sakura's standard shoe pattern." I handed the seed back to Yamato.

"I'll examine it further when I get home. She might not have worn her standard Kunoichi shoes if she's going after Sasuke. I'm heading back." Yamato clapped his palms together and the cabin dissembled around us. "I suggest that you get back too. If Tsunade finds out you're here then she'll be mad at you."

I frowned, knowing that Yamato was right...I was stupid to come this far...but now I know for sure that Jiraiya's hunch, was something much more than what he feared.

"Don't worry, Kakashi." I faced Yamato with a confused face. "I'll face the consequences of what Tsunade has to say about me and the tracking device. I will tell her about Sakura and You, Naruto and Jiraiya will more or less be sent off this evening rather than tomorrow morning. I'll handle Sai." He stated before sprinting off towards the village.

I paused momentarily before following him back to the village.

"I hope you're okay Sakura..." I muttered pointlessly to myself. My bad feeling just got a whole lot worse.

* * *

I keep doing short chapters . My brain is slowly running out of Ideas D: The next chapter will be at least 2000 words and could be posted up tonight if ideas flow through my head well enough xD

Thank you so much for reading again ^_^

xXx


	8. Chapter 8

**Act Eight - Dreaming**

_I was surrounded by soft pastel colours, it was almost like different coloured clouds were floating around me. I looked around and wasn't shocked to find nothing but more clouds. I walked forward and I could see a faint grey silhouette. Letting my curiosity get a hold of me I walked ahead._

_"Sakura..." I heard a soft deep voice lure me in. I increased my walking pace slightly. This voice sounded so familiar. "...Quick." The voice rumbled through my bones. I started running towards it and I could just about make out who it was._

_"Sasuke!" I shouted while sprinting towards him. Tears were flowing down my eyes and I seemed to be sweating more than I normally do when I run._

_Before I could get any closer to him he sped up to me and jabbed his katana in my direction. I couldn't move out of the way as his sharp weapon forced it's way through my throat harshly._

"Sa-suke!" I choked as I woke up from dreaming. I violently coughed out loads of water from my throat, making my throat stupidly sore. I was clenching onto someone's shirt as they were pulling me towards them. Water was dripping from every part of my body. I couldn't stop shaking as they put a towel around my body.

"Sakura." I looked up and could vaguely see Itachi looking down at me. I tried to talk but nothing was coming out. I heard him sigh loudly. He lead me towards the door and down the corridor we were in earlier. I kept tripping over my feet. "Kisame." I heard Itachi say. I didn't have enough strength to look up anymore. But I finally realised that I was drowning.

I could feel my lungs were full of water, and my throat stung more with every short breath I took. Itachi pulled me into a room and took his jacket off to put around me.

"I-I-" I started to try and tell them that I was drowning but my body hunched over as if to throw up. But nothing came out. I groaned slightly before trying to get into a comfortable angle to talk. "I-I'm drowning." I muttered while trying to use my chakra to get rid of the water but this was something beyond my capabilities.

"You're going to have to-" Itachi started before I heard a thud from a heavy weapon being dropped.

"Yeah, I know." Kisame walked over to me and held my chin firmly and forced it to face upwards and look at him. Kisame's face looks so scary up close.

Before any other thoughts could cross my mind Kisame leaned into my face and started sucking on my mouth. My eyes widened and I started struggling against him to push my body away. He simply used his other hand to hold my back firmly closer.

"He's helping you." Itachi stated plainly. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes in bewilderment. How would kissing me help me at all? I started panicing. Something in my body wasn't reacting well to Kisame. Although after a while, as Itachi said, I could feel the water slowly leave my lungs and travel through my mouth and enter through Kisame's.

I could feel my face turn bright red as Kisame's lips started to close up and touch my own. He pulled back and walked over to a nearby bucket to spit out quite a lot of water almost overfilling the barrel.

"I'm s-so sorry. I was tired and I just fell-" I started, while hugging myself into Itachi's jacket for warmth.

"You've exhausted your chakra. Anyone could see that..." Kisame started while walking towards me. He looked at my eyes for a moment before looking back down at my lips. He used this thumb to get rid of some excess water before turning his head to Itachi. "Although you were supposed to be monitoring her." I looked over at Itachi and smiled slightly. Itachi's getting told off. This is another priceless thing I have experienced in one day.

"Don't blame me Kisame. You would have had a worse reaction time then I did. She looked like she was intentionally dipping her head in the water. I realised she was drowning in less than two seconds. She wouldn't have drowned if she didn't inhale litres of water before she shouted something." He explained, looking slightly aggitated. Kisame shook his head slightly and walked over to his sword, he picked it up effortlessly and rested it on his shoulder.

"You have a lot to learn, Sakura." Kisame stated before leaving the room. I stared after him and inwardly scowled at the back of his head. I paused for a while before looking back at Itachi.

He was staring right at me. With cold eyes. I shuffled uncomfortably before walking slowly in his direction.

"U-um." I started before frowning and blushing slightly at the awkwardness of the atmosphere. "Where are my clothes?" I asked. Itachi looked at me with the same cold expression.

"They're through here." He said, somewhat reluctantly. He opened the door behind him and held it open for me. He was waiting for me to walk under his arm...I'm going to fit right under his arm, and that's like poking fun at me because I'm shorter than him. "Or I'll put the clothes on for you." He continued harshly.

I sighed before rushing to walk into the room. The room was actually a walk in wardrobe, I was stunned by how many clothes there were in here. I looked around and saw a nice black tight fitting tank top and a puffy pair of blue camo trousers that had a half metre of tight fitting deep blue material at the bottom of them.

I picked them up quickly and walked over to the door and looked blankly into his eyes.  
"I'm going to get changed." I stated before shutting the door on him. I sighed while taking off Itachi's hoodie and placing it carefully to the side. I used the towel around my body and dried my hair as much as a towel could dry hair before quickly looking around for underwear.

As I picked up a set of black underwear and a black bra with a nice thin blood red ribbon weaving through the top. My eyes widened in realisation. Itachi must have seen me naked while helping me out of the bath. I groaned slightly before rushing to get all my clothes on. I wrapped the towel around my hair before facing the door. I looked at Itachi's dark red hoodie for a moment. I decided to wear it with the rest of my outfit.

Right after I was finishing putting my arm in the right sleeve Itachi opened the door.

"You'll get some rest now. We'll be training in the evening." He stated before closing and locking the door we entered the room with. I stood still for a moment before processing what he just said. They've captured me...I don't know their real intentions as of yet...But I'm now training with them?

"What?" I said out loud. Itachi simply pointed to the bed.

"You will rest, on that bed. Until I wake you up. No more questions." He leaned against the wall and waited for me to go the bed. I sighed before reluctantly going up to the bed and laying down on my side, facing away from Itachi.

I don't think I'm ever going to get used to this feeling. I could feel the intense stare on me from Itachi.

Will I ever get the chance to escape here?

* * *

ANOTHER SHORT CHAPTER D; I'M SO SORRY XD The next one will be a lot longer :3 Because it's from one of the Akatsuki's point of view :D whoo! ~ xXx


	9. Chapter 9

**Act Nine - It's Nothing Like That [Itachi's P.O.V]**

I watched her body slowly start to relax into a sleeping phase. For some reason I was very annoyed at this girl. She was weak. And there is this annoying attachment that my brain was trying to create with her. Her body twitched slightly. She's already in the dreaming stage.

I didn't have much knowledge about this girl, yet the chakra her body held was trying to pull me in. I glared at her before sighing lightly and closing my eyes to wait for the evening.

Six hours went past quite quickly before I heard Sakura's body wake up. I kept my eyes closed to see what her next actions would be.

I could tell that she was trying to hide the sounds of her actions as I heard faint footsteps trying to sneak past me.

"I'm awake." I stated in a tone louder than what was normal. I opened my eyes sharply to see Sakura a few steps in front of me. From what I could make out, I could tell that she was frowning at me. She hesitantly crossed her arms and sighed.

"Yeah, U-uh. I know," Sakura looked directly into my eyes as I stared back. "Why am I being trained?" She unfolded her arms from her chest and held them naturally on her hips.  
"Because you're in Akatsuki territory. So you'll do as you are told." I replied sharply before slowly walking to the door.

As soon as I unlocked the door, I came face to face with Deidara. Every bone in my body told me to punch him in the gut and beat the shit out of him into next year. But he was simply not worth it.

"What is it, Deidara?" He simply stood there and took a peek over my shoulder.

"Hey Sakura," He started ad I held his head and pushed it back outside the door. He glared at me before looking back at Sakura. "Pein-sama needs you to do something for him." He stated before I leaned back into his view.

"Sakura has been ordered to train with me, Deidara." I stated harshly. Deidara gave me a blank expression before crossing his arms, slightly aggitated.

"Pein has just ordered me, to take Sakura off your hands...and take her to him." He said in a slow manner. I scowled at him before stepping out of the way of the door.

I looked over at Sakura and saw she was dazing out.

"Sakura." I almost hissed. So looked up at me with wide eyes and made an expression that my eyes couldn't recognise. I closed my eyes momentarily. My eyesight is definitely getting a lot worse than what it once used to be.

Sakura walked past me and stood beside Deidara.

"Don't worry Sa-ku-ra. Itachi," Deidara said while resting his arm on Sakuras shoulder. "Is just jealous he can't spend more time with you." I glared at him and was about to reply before Kisame coughed loudly and stood next to me.

"I need a word with you, Itachi." I took a few steps away from the door and allowed Kisame to enter. I slammed the door shut in Deidara's smug face before turning around to face Kisame.

"What is it." I asked blankly. He stood silent for a while, examining my face in the process.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He finally said. I kept my blank face while remaining silent. "What's going on with you, huh? Is it your eyes again or are you just being careless."

I sighed before closing my eyes, trying to ease the soft sting that I've got used to in the past three years.

"It's unavoidable, Kisame. I just need to train more." I responded after a while. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Kisame was wearing a worried expression.

"You know," Kisame started while sitting down on the bed. "I've done some research and I've discovered that Sakura has trained under both Tsunade from the leaf and Orochimaru's pest, Kabuto." I straightened my stance in interest. Of course I knew about Tsunade but I have no knowledge about Kabuto training her.

"Kabuto? When exactly was this?" I inquired as I leaned back against the wall.

"I'm under the impression that Sakura has been training with him since she first met him in the leaf village." He answered, I furrowed my eyebrows slightly. "Although I've also found out that she has no clue that it was Kabuto training her. She believed him to be named Kyuza Endoh." I rolled my eyes inwardly. Of course she's stupid enough to be fooled by a simple alias and disguise.

"Do you know if Kabuto has embedded with a tracking device or some form of bug?" I frowned as Kisame shrugged.

This was certainly going to be somewhat troublesome.

"Hey, Itachi..." Kisame spoke up after a while. I remained silent, allowing him to continue. "The way you spoke to Deidara earlier...I've never seen you like this. I can only think that you may be jealous of-"

"-I'm not Jealous Kisame." I replied blankly. I felt a horrible chill go down my spine. I must be getting cold. Sakura took my jacket with her. "What does pain want with her anyway?" I questioned Kisame, hoping he'd catch on to who I meant.

"Sakura? Oh, Deidara managed to salvage Sasori's body and is making is Sakura's personal mission to gain more information on how he created his puppet form...I think." I sighed slightly. Why is he getting her to do more things when he's specifically asked me to train Sakura up as the perfect decoy of the master plan.

"Okay. Well. I'm going to meditate now...I need to regenerate at least two percent of my eyesight back by the end of the week...I can't hold it off any longer." I said as Kisame nodded and sat at the back of the bed with his legs crossed. I locked the door and performed a strong lock jutsu to aid the door before walking up to the bed and sitting opposite Kisame.

I had used most of the money I earned here on professional meathods of self regeneration when I first started this organisation. But a few months down the line I realised that it was not helping my eyes to see any better, in fact it was doing the exact opposite. So in confidence, after I bought a medical practice on other shinobi book, I told Kisame about my eyesight, and we've been meditating every night for an hour every day. If we meditated any longer then my head would gain an unbareable amount of pain for the next couple of months.

...and here we are...five years down the line and my eyesight has only recovered ten percent of it's original strength back...It would take another fourty five years for my eyes to recover completely. At least that was something.

* * *

I really wish I could have made this chapter longer :( But I wanted to update it by today and I went to see Maleficent . (It's pretty decent :3)

xXx


	10. Chapter 10

**Act Ten - No hope [Naruto's P.O.V]**

"So, what are we making Hinata?" I said while placing the shopping down on the side. She looked around my house before giving me a sad looking face.

"N-Naruto, aren't you going to clean your house?" I looked around and noticed that the place was littered in my clothing. I shrugged and looked back at her.

"I'll clean up after we cook." I said. She hesitantly got all the food out of her bag and placed them in three different groups on the chopping board.

"O-Okay then," She pointed at the first group of food. "These ingredients w-will allow you to make a sweet seedy bread with an ice-cream sorbet." I nodded while she faced the next group of food. "T-These ones will make a chicken and vegetable platter...sort of." She drifted off before looking back at me and blushing slightly. "And the last group is just to make a simple soup."

I nodded and smiled at her, which made her frown and I could see her face turning more red. Is she about to cry?

"Hey, Hinata? What's up?" I asked while moving forward to touch her shoulder. She looked up at me and started to lean closer to my face. My heart started beating at a faster speed.

I've never seen anything like this, this feeling is overwhelming...and Hinata was a part of this moment.

"Aha!" I shouted while pulling away a bug from her hair. "I know that some girls get freaked out with bugs, but these ones are harmless!" Hinata frowned more, faced the counter and started doing stuff with the food. I looked closer at the bug as it raised on it's back legs unnaturally.

I shrugged and chucked it out of the window before quickly making my house look half tidy. I walked over to Hinata who had all of the pots and pans out with steam everywhere and stuff. I am hopeless when it comes to cooking so it's glad that I have Hinata here.

"It's nearly four Naruto, you better get changed into something more smart." I widened my eyes and looked over at the clock on the wall. It's nearly four already?

"U-Uh, okay. I'll be back in a moment." I rushed to get changed into a suit that Jiraiya gave me. I looked at myself in the mirror before frowning. I kinda looked like a mini-pervert with the style of this suit...I only think that because of how Jiraiya's suit looks pretty much the same as mine.

"N-Naruto?" I heard Hinata's weak voice travel in my direction. I hurriedly fixed my tie and walked into the room. "Kakashi is at the door." She continued before I could even ask. I grinned as I saw all the food laid out on the counter, The soup was still in the pot and I could see the main meal cooking in the oven.

After Hinata put the ice cream into the fridge I hugged her and picked her up.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you Hinata! You're the best!" I said. I really appreciated how she could make so much in such a small amount of time. She was a cooking goddess.

"U-uh," I heard Hinata stutter as I put her back on the ground. I gave her a huge grin before taking her hand.

"I'm sorry to be so rude like this, but there's another exit out this way." I pointed while walking her to the second door. I turned to look at her again and I just didn't know a way to express how thankful I was for her help so I just let my body do what felt like it needed to and I kissed her on the forehead.

Her skin was soft and so delicate, and I could feel the heat off her face as I pulled away.

"I-It's okay. I-I'll see you later N-Naruto." Hinata said before darting out of the exit. I frowned and walked towards the door. She must really hate my company...She's been awkward like this for as long as I've known her.

I opened the door and saw Kakashi and Jiraiya standing side by side. I grinned, somewhat with an evil glint in my teeth, as I stood back. This way I can give both Jiraiya and Kakashi the seeds at the same time and not have to think too much.

"Hey Naruto. We really would love to stay but-" Jiraiya started. I couldn't believe my ears, they were going to blow off the meal and tell me to my face. My gut started feeling tight and my face slowly started to lose blood.

"No way! Hinata helped me making this meal for ages! I even bought all the food from the money I have left!" I complained Jiraiya and Kakashi exchanged looks before I groaned, waiting for a response.

"We can at least eat before we-" Kakashi started, My eyes starting lighting up, my mission was on again!

"Yeah, I guess so." Jiraiya interjected while they both walked in. I closed the door and walked up the the pot with the soup in. I opened the lid and the aroma hit my nose and I nearly dribbled in the pot. It smelled amazing.

"What do we have to eat, Naruto? I'm pretty hungry." I heard Jiraiya say while I heard the scraping of chairs.

"Oh, It's a surprise." I replied while pouring the soup out into fair portions. I rushed to set the table and get the soup to serve. I sat infront of Jiraiya and Kakashi and started eating my soup before the two of them could even pick up their spoons.

Slurping could be heard and there were a few moments of silence.

"That was surprisingly good, who knew that you were a natural cook." Kakashi said. I looked up and gave him an extreme blank face. He had finished his bowl of soup...his mask was still on. I hate him. What is up with him?

"Well, I can't take all the credit, Hinata cooked most of it." I replied half honestly. Jiraiya leaned back and nodded his head. I took the bowls and scowled at nothing in-particular. How does Kakashi do these things?! It's going to drive me insane.

"So, Naruto," Jiraiya sung his words in a low tone. I took out the hot plates from the over and power walked to the table. "Are you dating Hinata?" He said quite suggestively. I sat down and handed out cutlery before shaking my head.

"No way, she just helped me out as a friend." I responded while stuffing the food in my mouth. There were a few minutes silence before Jiraiya coughed and set his fork and knife on his plate.

"I know you and Hinata must have gone through a lot of effort to make this meal, Naruto. But we have bad news." I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Does he not like how this tastes like? It tasted great in my opinion...

"It's about Sakura." Kakashi said as my back straightened up. My heart started pounding against my chest.

"Well, what is it?" I questioned after moments of silence. Jiraiya frowned and stood up.

"We'll tell you along the way. I have to run the details through with Tsunade again. But Sakura may or may not have chased after Sasuke, by herself."

I clenched my fists and just closed my eyes. How the hell can she do something this stupid? I thought she was better than this.

"All she's going to do is kill herself. What a stupid-!"

"Naruto!" Kakashi shouted as I opened my eyes sharply to look at him. "That isn't exactly how it is. All we technically know is that she has no intentions of coming back to the leaf village." I glared at him further before looking over to Jiraiya. He simple shook his head.

"We head off in an hour." Both Jiraiya and Kakashi stood up. "Thank you for the meal Naruto." I said nothing while they left my house.

"How could she be so stupid..." I muttered as I looked down at my plate. I stood up and headed towards the counter. My heart dropped further as I reached into my pocket where the seeds were. I forgot to give them the tracking devices...

* * *

Sorry for not updating in two days D: I'm slowly running out of ideas :C

But I'll think of something .

xXx


	11. Chapter 11

**Act Eleven - One step closer [Sakura's P.O.V]**

I hesitantly nodded my head as Pein showed me into the room. Deidara was right behind me, kind of making me feel quite uncomfortable. My breath hitched as my eyes locked onto Sasori's puppet body. The heart piece looked like it was rotting, the green mushy looking moss infusing with purple poison, making the colours look dreadful to even look at. His body had been eaten into by bugs and there were also parts of his arms that looked damaged.

I looked up at Pein again and raised an eyebrow.

"So, He's been dead for a month now," I started while looking back over to the fragile puppet body. "And you expect me to do what...Magically resurrect him?" I questioned as I heard Deidara exhale noisily.

"No, Kunoichi. I merely want you to extract a clear few pieces of DNA in the heart piece so I can get Kakuzu to study it further. That's all you need to know."

"Okay." I stretched out while looking back at Sasori. A strange form of guilt consumed my whole body. I've killed him and his former friends want me not to help him in any way...but to use his own DNA for selfish purposes.

"But you can do that in your own time, for now you are to return to Itachi and train with him." Pein stated while walking out of the room before I could even think of any more questions.

I sighed and just dazed out looking at Sasori's face...I wonder what he went through being emotionless for a good chunk of his life.

I could tell Deidara was about to touch my shoulder, so I turned around about ninety degrees and my mouth came into contact with his hand I dropped my shoulders and stool still, cussing myself for how stupid I was to misjudge the height of his arm.

I stepped back again to turn and face him. He looked down at me with a face that was somewhat grim.

"Sorry for killing your...uh, partner?" I said, trying to lighten his mood. He simply looked around my body before locking onto my eyes.

"I don't care about him. He had the wrong views on a lot of things." He said as he grabbed my back and pushed me in front of him. "Now just go back to Itachi." Just as I stepped outside the door, I heard it slam shut loudly. I jumped slightly before looking about.

I smiled in realisation. There was nobody around to escort me. I'm completely by myself and my body is practically fully healed. I could escape and sneak out, I started to head in the opposite direction to Itachi's room.

"Don't even think about it." I looked around and couldn't see anyone, until a plant head came out from the wall. I cringed slightly before turning pale and power-walking back towards Itachi's room. I was about to push the door open until I fell on top of someone who was pulling it on the other side.

"Ah." I groaned as I unwillingly head-butted Kisame. I looked at him momentarily and saw that his once serious frown just change into an evil looking grin. I didn't feel right. I'm starting to slowly gain subconscious worries about these guys and I don't want to. It's wrong to even be here, let alone touching them or living with them.

I put my hands to the side and started to pull myself away from Kisame, although he suddenly moved his right arm to wrap and lock around my back. My body fell back onto his firmly and I frowned at him while my cheeks heated up.

"I never knew you were like this Sakura, I only kissed you to save your life but I can kiss-" Kisame started before I sighed loudly and closed my eyes in a huff.

"I have this thing about being close to other people, and it's a thing that I really don't like." I said out loud while frowning further at Kisame. He grinned more genuinely at me. My heart completely stopped. He looks like he's so lonely. I saw sadness and pain littered everywhere in his facial expression. I frowned and my eyes drooped a bit.

"Heheh." Kisame chuckled before holding my waist and picked me up as he got up himself. "You better watch yourself, you'll be making a lot of men sad if you lead them on like that." I pulled a blank face at the direct front of my vision. Why do men do this? They'll expose their sensitive side for only a second before being complete idiots again.

"I tripped over, because you opened the door really fast and I was actually in a rush to get back in this room because of a guy who travelled through the wall and-"

"I'll handle it from here, Kisame." I looked over Kisame's shoulder and saw Itachi standing a few feet away from him. I looked at Kisame expecting for him to let me down.

A short while passed before I looked down at him with a questionable face. He simply smirked and put me down before walking out of the room.

"If you say so..." He muttered quietly as he left the room. I stared after him. Why do people like these guys expose their weakness to me? Sasori was the hardest to read because he was practically emotionless...

"Come." He said as he brushed past my shoulder. I scrunched my face up slightly in sourness before following him reluctantly. The whole journey was walked in pure silence. Which didn't surprise me seeing as Itachi was Sasuke's older brother after all. They're both moody as hell.

"So," I said as we reached a room full of items, scattered everywhere your eyes dared to travel. It was pretty dirty and by the look of it, it seemed like it sound smell terrible...but there weren't any horrid stench...Which I was grateful of at least. "What are we supposed to do now...I'm kinda bored." I admitted quietly at the end.

Itachi motioned for me to get inside the room and I did. He followed me afterwards and pulled out a black-out blindfold.

"You are to fight me," He started as I saw a slight glimpse of a sinister smirk. "Or at least defend yourself, whilst being blind-folded." I scolwed at him slightly before he walked closer to me. I flinched back and had to steady my footing as I nearly tripped back on a small box.

"How will that help me in any way?" I said, while looking at him wildly. His whole aura seemed to change dramatically. He didn't seem as careless with his facial expressions and I was kind of shaking slightly. What is this feeling?

Before I knew it Itachi grabbed the back of my head and attached the blindfold on. My heart started to race and I felt extremely uncomfortable. Before I could even say anything Itachi pushed my shoulders harshly. I gulped noticeably and tried to quickly used my chakra to examine my surroundings. I could barely make out anything but faint objects only a metre out around me.

I decided that the best thing for me to do was to fall back and use the object behind me to hit Itachi with. I couldn't tell how hard the object was, but I soon experienced that they were a pile of bricks. I groaned slightly as my elbow smashed against the bricks underneath me.

I reached for something behind me, frantically searching for anything I could use. I eventually found a screw driver right behind my back.

"Argh!" I cried as Itachi pushed down on top of me with brute force. My shoulder nearly dislocated and my wrist broke...for the second time in one day. The screwdriver shoved its way into the side of my back and I flinched sharply while arching my back upwards. I could feel Itachi's clothes against my own figure. that was a start.

I used more of my chakra to identify the shape of Itachi's body and try and figure out what his next attack would be.

I used my left hand to punch Itachi hard in the jaw. It felt like I landed a hit until his body dispersed into crows and I could hear them fly off. I jumped up and quickly yanked the screwdriver out of my back before trying to find out Itachi's location.

I can't fight like this. I'm purely miles out of my comfort zone. I felt like crying and giving up but I'd probably end up looking like a weakling.

"I'm over here, Sakura." I heard a voice from behind me but in that short moment I could feel Itachi's chakra in front of my person. So I rammed my right arm forward and hit Itachi. I assumed that it was somewhere in his gut, judging by his height compared to mine.

He scoffed slightly before grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards him. My body stumbled as I felt a cold metal kunai being pointed at my throat.

My chest was frantically expanding as I took breaths in and I couldn't hide the shakiness of my body. I finally forced my mouth to shut as I felt a small prick in my throat.

"You are careless. You have no chance." His voice was like poison to my heart. I've been training for years now and hearing that from Itachi...it just killed me. I don't know why I would care about his opinion because he betrayed Konoha, but it hurt me. Maybe it's because his attitude is very similar to Sasuke's...

Sasuke...

Before I could say anything Itachi removed the blind-fold off my eyes quickly. I opened my eyes and flinched at the sudden contrast change of my surroundings, I squinted my eyes until they automatically adjusted to the natural light.

"You have two more chances. Or you'll be back into the dungeon, where things will be much different." Itachi stated as I looked up at him. His face was dark, he must be moody.

"You barely even gave me a chance. You instantly attacked me." I stated grumpily as he stowed his kunai away. His crimson eyes just burned into my own before he turned his back.

"One more chance." He said childishly in my view. I sighed before shaking my head slightly.

"Fine." I stated. He walked out of the room and I shortly followed him. There was a clock that was hanging outside of the room that read five minutes to one.

I frowned and looked at the ground. I wonder if anyone knows that I'm gone.

I followed Itachi to the room. He went to unlock the door until Deidara walked down the hallway.

"You look happy." Itachi commented while opening his door. I saw Deidara scowl at him before directing his glare at me.

"Pein needs you again." He stated while harshly yanking my broken wrist in the direction of the room Sasori's body was in. I suppressed the urge to yelp in pain as I used my chakra to fix my wounds.

"What does Pein want me to do?" I asked while we entered the room. He shut the door behind him and deafening silence had filled the room.

* * *

Ooooh D: What's he gonna do? xD Sorry for another late update. Work sucks TT^TT

xXx


	12. Chapter 12

**Act Twelve - Not enough ground covered [Jiraiya's P.O.V]**

I looked at Tsunade directly and didn't show a hint of compassion. I felt that something really bad was going on and I don't want a rejection of my early mission start.

"I'll be safe. Naruto will be safe because me and Kakashi will be there if anything goes wrong." I continued my point as she merely looked up at me and bit at her thumbnail.

"I don't believe Sakura would have gone after Sasuke by herself," She looked out the window through slitted eyes. "I trained her to do better than this." I could tell that she was close to tears. I sighed quietly and looked at her with a small smile, I hate seeing her like this.

"I will send you any information I find out via Kakashi's hounds, as soon as we find it." I said bluntly as I started turning around.

"Jiraiya," Tsunade called after me, I looked over my shoulder at her and saw that her eyes were starting to get red. "When you find her, beat the living shit out of her then bring her back, ok?" I chuckled at her words, she must really have a strong bond with Sakura. "Verbally." She corrected as I nodded slightly.

"I won't disappoint you." I promised. I walked out and shut the door softly behind me. I could hear muffled sobs as I started to walk down the hallway to Kakashi.

"We leave now." I commanded as he nodded. We both darted in the direction of Naruto's house. It didn't take any time to reach his door and knock on it.

It was a few moments before he opened the door. He stood still and gave me an expression that I've not seen in quite some time. He was hurt.

"We're leaving now Naruto, are you ready?" Kakashi broke the silence. Naruto simply walked out of his house and slammed his door shut. He nodded as I took the lead.

"We'll head to the border first, and see what information we can collect from there." I stated plainly while speeding towards the exit.

I could sense that the atmosphere with the group was extremely tense. I can't blame them. I have knowledge about Sakura that may lead to something more than the fact she may have left to find Sasuke...And I guess I should tell Naruto too.

"Naruto," I spoke up, everything around me seemed to go quiet, the only sound heard was the wind rushing past my ears and the slight creeks coming from the trees when I pushed my weight down on it before jumping further ahead. "Sakura might be in more trouble than we think." I said in a grim tone.

"What do you mean pervy-sage?" He growled slightly. I smirked slightly at my nickname before taking a deep breath.

"I've heard, from an unreliable source, that the Akatsuki have been wondering around the border of the leaf village...Sakura could be dead." The last words were hard to say...especially while Naruto was there. I heard nothing for a while, until Naruto grunted.

"No way she would be dead..." His voice travelled off while we edged closer to the border. The sun was starting to set as it turned nine O'clock. I really wanted to doubt that anything terrible has happened to Sakura...but if she came into contact with an Akatsuki member, she might have got away with a serious injury...But if she came into contact with more than two members, which is rare, then she may be dead.

I shook the feeling off, what good will it do me worrying about the worst all the time. I held my hand up in front of the group as we reached a clearing in the forest. I took a moment to scan for enemy traps, although there was nothing here apart from a waterfall a few miles out north from my point.

"We'll camp here for the night." I finally stated while taking my bag off. As expected, I heard Naruto shuffle about in preparation to shout at me about how we shouldn't stop. But surprisingly when I turned around he simply nodded and dropped his bag on the floor.

"I'll get some fire wood." His shoulders dropped and before either me nor Kakashi could say a word, he jumped to the ground and walked around. I gave Kakashi a concerned expression before jumping to the ground to set up a small camp.

"Naruto is taking this surprisingly wel-" Kakashi started talking while jumping to the ground.

"Arrghhhh!" Naruto's voice echoed through the forest as his signature move hit hard on what sounded like a tree. I refrained the urge to sigh but I guess if you bottle up your feelings and you don't want to hurt the people around you, you gotta take it out on something else.

"Forget what I just said." Kakashi stated while dropping his bag next to a tree. I looked at him and noticed that he was acting weird too...What a weird impact girls can make on someone.

"Which way are we heading tomorrow?" Naruto said while walking toward us balancing a tonn of firewood in his arms...He must have really took it out on that tree.

"We'll start searching the border that surrounds the leaf village where herbs grow. Once we find something we'll take it from there." I responded as he dumped the pile on the ground. he walked up to his bag and took a sleeping bag out.

"I'm going to sleep." He stated obviously before placing his bed two metres from the pile of wood. I frowned as he got inside of the camping bag and faced away from the group. Kakashi sighed and walked to the fire to ignite it.

I sighed while leaning back on the tree. Hours seemed to have passed and I didn't take notice of anything that was happening around me. The forest was unusually quiet and the coldness was worse than usual for a summery night.

"Hey, Jiraiya." I heard Kakashi speak. I looked to my left and saw Kakashi sitting down on his camping bed. "What do you personally believe has happened to Sakura?" I looked at him curiously before taking a seat next to him.

"I'm not sure." My answer unsettled him somewhat. Kakashi looked off in the distance before sighing. "What's up Kakashi, it's clear as day that something is wrong." He took out a photo from his pocket and handed it to me.

I looked down at it and frowned.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked, my tone not hiding the anger that was about to just explode.

"Yes...that's why I'm concerned about her." He muttered. I studied the picture further and my heart just dropped. It was a photo of Sakura taking a photo of herself in flattering underwear swinging a kunai in one finger and had her other hand stroking Kakashi's bare cheek. Sakura wore a cheeky smile and her face was more made up than usual, her eyelashes seemed longer and her lips a more blood red. Kakashi seemed to be unconscious and his shirt was on the desk Sakura sat on. And if I wasn't mistaken, the room they were in was the confiscated items that were collected from the Akatsuki and Orochimaru, along with forbidden information files.

"How?" I questioned, keeping a locked glare at Kakashi.

"I found her trying to sneak in, but she...uh. Sakura tried to lie about things and then...fooled me and she must have slipped a sleeping pill in my mouth while we ugh...Well lets just say I woke up and I found myself cuffed to the table leg and a photo was on my lap." Kakashi awkwardly spoke while I shook my head slightly.

"So she has information about Orochimaru and the Akatsuki...was there any items missing?" I asked nervously.

"Not that I'm aware of, but I don't know the room well enough..." His voice drifted off. I sighed while looking back at the photo.

"She knows how to seduce a guy when she needs to I guess. And she has a few tricks up her sleeve to...She would make a good candidate for the specialist ANBU squad..." I admitted slightly. I'll have to find her first and personally discuss a few things...

I handed the photo back to Kakashi. He stowed it away shamefully before looked back up at me.

"My bad feeling is getting worse..." He admitted. I nodded slightly before standing back up.

"Then get some rest. We head out as soon as the sun rises." I stated. Kakashi sighed noisily before shuffling into his bed.

I have to be on my toes tomorrow...I have a feeling that absolutely anything could happen.

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Yay :3 Another chapter updated D: ALSO, I would love to hear your opinions on pairings you'd like to see within this fanfiction! :3 THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading :D

xXx


	13. Chapter 13

**Act Thirteen - Guilty [Deidara's P.O.V]**

I locked the door and performed a small sound barrier Jutsu before turning around to see her. She was just standing there, with no care in the world for what she'd done.

She killed my friend and she's just standing there...with a slight frown on her face.

"Deidara?" Her voice was soft, but it was toxic to my ears. I walked towards her slowly.

"Hold out your hands." I commanded. She hesitantly held her hands straight out in front of her while giving me a cautious look. I slapped the chakra block bracelets onto her wrists. She looked down at the bands while putting her arms to the side again.

"What was that for?" She questioned, slowly starting to realise what kind of bracelets they were.

"My revenge." I growled while making a hand-sign for my clay clamps that were placed in the room earlier.

Her eyes widened as one of the clamps had wrapped around her ankles and stopped just above her knees. She almost landed a punch on my face until more of my clay held her shoulder and elbow in place. I harshly controlled my clay to force both hands behind her back in an uncomfortable way and her face showed a slight hint of pain. I smiled slightly before pulling out a kunai.

"What the fuck Deidara?!" She said casually. I hated the way my name rolled off her tongue so easily, like I was her close friend. I hate her.

I plunged my kunai deep in her stomach. She flinched...but she didn't scream. I glared at her face before twisting the kunai around in a full circle. she barely even grunted. She kind of accepted what was happening...which only pissed me off more.

I took out my blood drenched kunai and threw it on the ground before moulding some clay into small spiders. I placed my hand on her stomach and forced the spiders to crawl around inside her organs before injecting the poison I stole from Sasori's heart piece earlier.

She stayed quiet while her body squirmed in pain. I simply grabbed her throat and dispelled my clay from her body before slamming her against the wall behind her.

"Why aren't you screaming in pain?!" I yelled at her, my anger increasing rapidly. Her eyes started to water a bit as I held her neck tighter. "I can kill you right now." I continued while using my other hand slowly up her waist. Her eyes widened and looked down at my hands, as if I had other intentions of her, what an idiot for exposing her weakness at a time like this.

I used the tongue on my hand to lick up her waist while lifting her top up with my fingers. She shivered and took a sharp breath at how cold my hand was compared to her warm skin.

"W-what are you doing?" She questioned with a shaky voice, the poison must have hit her whole system by now. I smirked grimly and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm going to make you scream." I said in a pure, lustful, venomous tone. She tried to struggle against me but all her efforts were wasted. She was way too weak to do anything right now. I was confident enough to know that she wouldn't move if I took my hand off her neck, so I did and I used that hand to remove her top.

Her breasts weren't massive, but I don't like them big...because to me they just look like a second ass if they're too big.

"You're not very big at all, are you?" I chuckled as her face was full of hatred for me, clearly embarrassed of the situation. This was what I wanted.

"There's n-no point." She stuttered while I moved closer and pressed my body closer to hers.

"Oh?" I questioned while sliding my left hand down to her trousers to take them off and my right hand upwards to her neck.

I could sence her fear without even looking at her. She was fully exposed now, her pale skin glowing slightly in the darkness. Her figure was something of an ideal figure that I'd craved for years all alone. Her black underwear contrasted so well with her hair.

Her slightly blood-shot emerald eyes pierced through my own. She wasn't going to give up her mask of 'strength' so I decided to push right up against her and use my right hand to start sucking harshly on her neck.

Her once strong expression instantly turned into a delicate broken one as I moved my face closer to hers. My left hand hovered above the top of her knickers and suddenly I felt soft lips press against my forehead. My whole body stopped completely while I was trying to figure out what it was.

Sakura just kissed my forehead. What?

"I'm sorry Deidara." Her soft voice shook slightly, due to the coldness and the poison that was spreading further into her system.

I cold feel a faint heat emit from my cheek as I took a step back. She leaned back against the wall with such a vulnerable face on. I looked at the damage I'd done to her...and it was horrendous. Her stomach was badly cut, some of her muscles poked out of the wound I made. Her neck was forming a purple bruise where I'd strangled her and a red mark from where my hand's mouth had been.

"I'm so sorry..." She repeated. I looked down at myself and shook my head. Why did I just do that?

"Don't be..." I heard a familiar voice say. Sakura's face turned pale as we both looked at Sasori's body.

"Holy fuck, did that thing just talk?" Sakura yelped while breaking the chakra blockers off. I looked at her in disbelief...She knew that she could easily take them off...but she left them on...I'd have to ask her why later.

Her face scrunched up slightly while she hovered her hand over her stomach to remove some of the poison that was easy to reach. She then closed the wound up and sighed softly. I looked up at her eyes again.

"That's Sasori's poison..." I said out loud. Sakura looked at me and gave me a genuine smile.

"That wasn't Sasori's poison...disgustingly enough that was some of his real blood." She explained before picking her clothes and quickly getting changed back into it. She then walked over to Sasori's body and scrutinised every part of Sasori's body.

"Am I going crazy, or did he just speak just a minute ago?" Sakura asked, her voice laced with insanity. I nodded my head.

I can't believe she hasn't attacked me...Why did she just let me do all of that to her? I sighed quietly at my stupidity.

"You'll be working on Sasori's body for four hours from now." I said before walking to the door. "Kisame will collect you." I bluntly finished while unlocking the door and exiting the room before slamming it shut again.

I locked the door again and started to head to my room.

"How could I let my emotions show in front of the enemy...and why?" I muttered to myself as I approached Hidan's room.

"What are you winging about now fuck face?" Hidan stated, trying to care. I simply looked at him and invited myself into his room. I shut the door behind me and looked over at Hidan. He raised his eyebrows and his mouth was agape.

"I don't remember inviting you in." He tried to be polite but I just got straight to the point.

"I nearly did something bad to our hostage." I said in the most vague way. He simply looked up at me with a menacing smirk.

"What did you do?"

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I NEED TO LEARN TO WRITE BETTER ^;

Thank you for reading and reviewing ^_^

xXx


	14. Chapter 14

**Act Fourteen - A New Way [Sakura's P.O.V]**

I brushed myself down from the dust that settled on me. I've been working on cleaning Sasori's body to a completely immaculate state for eight hours now and it must be six in the morning.

I made sure, in my time cleaning him, that his body was dust proof, fungus proof and almost any form of dirt proof. I stood up and stretched my back and it clicked in relief off not slouching. I sighed softly and looked back down at him...I swear it was his voice that I heard earlier...

I shook off the creepy feeling and started working on Sasori's heart-piece. I sat next to his body on the surface and removed the heart-piece easily before placing it on my lap. There were two sore looking cuts that Lady Chiyo's puppets made, they had turned yellow from infection, most likely caused by something trying to eat at it.

I couldn't help the empty feeling in my heart. I felt as if I took his whole life away...Well I kinda did...But I mean his emotions. I simply cleaned up the infection and stitched the wounds together. I'd probably need some electricity to get it going...Wait. I don't want him alive.

I promptly stood up and spun on the spot. Only to come face to face with that creepy plant man.

"Ughn, What are you doing?" I questioned defensively while hugging Sasori's heart close to my chest.

"I'm monitoring your work...just in case you do something that Pein didn't tell you to." His voice seemed to almost change halfway through speaking. I simply gave him a weird look before walking over to the sink.

"Is my 'free time' over yet." I asked bluntly. I heard a quiet scoff from that thing behind me.

"Goodbye." I turned around and the guy was gone. I blinked a few times before hesitantly looking back at the sink. Maybe I was just really tired.

I washed the heart-piece rid of all the tiny dirt particles. I used the last of my chakra that I had left in me to get a large strand of water and threading it through any gap that seemed like needed tending to.

I managed to extract a few drops of his own poison. I smirked slightly. This is the only part of his own poison on him. The first place I checked earlier for poison was his stomach where his wire was drenched in it...But there was no poison at all. I found two small flasks and separated the poison from the water.

I looked to the left flask and carefully placed the poison evenly inside it. I then was about to carelessly dump the water in the other flask until a small piece of, what seemed like, DNA of some sort floated into my view. My best bet is that it's probably an old skin cell...I separated the two solutions and examined the water more carefully before dumping it in the sink. I placed the skin cell in the flask and found a cork to bottle it up with. I quickly corked the other flask in as a loud sound almost snapped my eardrums.

Heavy handed-ly, Kisame had unlocked the door and entered. He looked around for a moment before looking at me while wearing a weird face.

"What happened to you?" He asked while walking up to me and feeling my shirt. "Blood," He continued. I remained silent as he picked at my shirt. "What did Deidara do?" He asked me while lifting my shirt up. I looked down at the partially healed stomach wound and winced at the colours it had turned.

"Uh," My voice quivered. "I really aggravated him and pissed him off. Then I tried attacking him and I obviously that ended bad." I lied before smiling slightly at him.

"Uh-huh." He said, somewhat in disbelief. He dropped my top and looked at me with slight confusion.

"So did you find any of Sasori's DNA?" He asked, trying to be interested. I picked up one of small flasks and held it in front of him.

"I believe that to be part of his real body. It looks like a skin cell." I replied, smirking slightly in self satisfaction. Kisame nodded slight and held his hand out as if to ask me a question. I handed over the flask and he turned his back.

"Come on then. I'll take you to Kakuzu." Kisame stated while I followed him out of the room. I was trying to think about which face matched the name Kakuzu. It's hard trying to remember the names of your enemies. Before I could think any more Kisame knocked on a door.

There was a quiet grunt heard from behind the door before it was, somewhat reluctantly, swung open by Kakuzu.

"What is it." His voice bored into my ears. Kisame handed the flask to him as he examined it closely.

"It's a DNA sample...of his skin." I spoke up after Kakuzu looked confused at the contents.

"I know what it is." He muttered with a blunt tone before slamming the door shut in our faces. I looked up at Kisame, he simply turned around and walked off again.

"Follow me." Kisame stated again. I was starting to get bored of the constant following in the repetitive looking building as we came to another door. Kisame didn't even knock on it as he entered.

"Hidan, Pein wants...Deidara, what are you doing here?" Kisame interrupted himself. I peered over his shoulder and saw both Deidara and Hidan sitting somewhat casually in separate chairs.

"Oh, so you and Kakuzu get to have hang out time but me and Hidan can't?" Deidara questioned while leaning back on the chair.

"There's a difference between hanging out when there are no mission and goofing around when you have many. Go and prepare for your new possible partner." Kisame retorted somewhat harshly. My eyes slightly widened as I heard his last words. Deidara has a new partner...already? You can't just replace someone just like that...

"Eh, whatever." Deidara muttered before brushing past my shoulder. I looked at him while he walked away until I couldn't see him any longer before turning back to the group.

"-right Sakura?" I just caught on to the last part of Kisame's sentence. I smiled at him awkwardly and rested my hands on my hips.

"I'm afraid to tell you that I wasn't really paying any attention just then." I said honestly. Kisame sighed and headed out of the room.

"Okay, well I'm going to rest up before my mission tonight. Hidan, go through it with her again." Kisame said as he started to leave. I took a quick glance at Hidan and panicked. I grabbed Kisame's arm, he stopped walking. "What?"

"Don't leave me here with this...thing." I pleaded childishly. Kisame merely chuckled and claimed his arm back.

"He doesn't bite, unless you want him to." He left with those words floating in my mind as the door closed shut.

I felt slightly tired actually, my body was slowly starting to feel the damage that Deidara caused and the strain of me exhausting my chakra. I really needed some sleep...

"Oi." I heard a voice snap me more awake. I turned around and faced Hidan. "Are you even listening?" He looked slightly agitated, I had to refrain a small giggle of tiredness before a sudden dizziness hit my head. I fought for my consciousness as I shook my head at Hidan.

He sighed loudly and got up from his seat.

"For Jashin's sake, can you just not be a weak assed bitch for one day." He said quite loudly while passing me over something that looked like chocolate. "Eat it. It will replenish your weak...self." He said while I looked down at it longer. I reluctantly did as he wanted before he sat back down.

"Thank you." I muttered, although he didn't hear me. It tasted like dark chocolate with a bit of a banana flavour in it.

"Anyway, as I just said, we're moving our hideout today and Pein has decided that he wants your initiation to start an hour before we leave." Hidan said casually as I choked on my food.

"What?! Who said I even wanted to join the Akatsuki!?" I yelled before Hidan smirked slightly.

"If you don't join us. We'll kill you, and do as we wish with whatever is left of your body." He stated bluntly. I cringed while finishing off the rest of the chocolate.

"When is my initiation then..." I questioned while shivering at the thought.

"Well," Hidan stood up and looked around before walking towards me. "It will be in a few minutes. I'll take you to Pein for him to run over your, task." He said while opening the door. My heart pounded violently against my chest. So I only get told now...what will I have to do? Would I have to fight him? I walked out of the room after Hidan and we approached the door in less than a few moments.

Hidan didn't bother to knock before walking into the room.

"I've got her." He stated plainly, my expression was blank while I stared into the back of my head. It's not like he caught me or anything.

"Come in..." He muttered, I walked by Hidan's side as we approached Peins' desk. "If you are to join the Akatsuki, then you need to do something...beneficial. For both us and yourself." Pein said as I leaned on my right foot.

"I don't want to be a part of your criminal organization." I retorted. Pein kept his face calm as he leaned back in the chair.

"Your mission will be the elimination of Orochimaru." Pein said. My heart felt light and my posture straightened up. This is horrible. What annoying situation I've got myself into.

"What's the catch..?" I asked gingerly. Pein leaned onto his right and and pointed at Hidan.

"Hidan will be your partner on this mission and you will be his girlfriend." He said with a hint of amusement on his face. My face dropped and I crossed my arms.

"Uh, I don't think so." I said stubbornly. Hidan hung his arm around my shoulder and I refrained myself from punching him full force in the face.

"The location I'm sending you to requires that you act as Hidan's girlfriend. You are being sent to a hotel not too far off the village hidden in the mist." Pain explained further. I sighed and my shoulders dropped.

"Don't you worry. I'll protect your weak self so that you don't die." Hidan muttered quietly in my ear. I simply elbowed him in the gut without any chakra to assist the final hit. He coughed slightly before backing away from me. "Ouch, how could you do that my precious girlfriend?" I started to get annoyed.

"Why the hell does it require me to be his girlfriend?!" I angrily questioned as I clenched my fists.

"Because you will be the bait. Whatever happens to you after that determines on whether you're a part of us or not. If you decline this mission we'll kill you and send your body home in pieces. If they kill you, well who knows. Consider this a gift too, as you'll gain more knowledge on your former team mate." Pein said while standing up. "You and Hidan are to leave once you both see Deidara." He finished as he dissapeared from view. I winced slightly. I wonder what Deidara was thinking...

"Hurry up." Hidan said as he walked out of the room. I hesitantly followed him until we reached a wardrobe full of girly stuff. Is this Deidara's wardrobe?

"So Pein wants everything to start straight away? So Impatient." Deidara said while walking behind us. "Let me see." He said while leaning over my shoulder. My whole body stiffened. I could feel his cold breath on my shoulder. He rummaged through the clothes before pulling out a formal looking dress.

He held it up against my body and looked over my shoulder to see what he thought.

"What do you think Hidan?" Deidara's voice rumbled through my ears and my face started heating up unwillingly. I sighed to myself.

"Eh, I rather she wear something more revealing. She's going to play as my girlfriend so she's going to dress like it." I gave Hidan daggers. He jumped slightly before chuckling. "Yeah, I definitely want her in something revealing." Hidan chuckled further.

Deidara put his free hand on my shoulder as he put the dress away and leaned towards the back of the wardrobe. My face went pale as he pulled out this skimpy outfit.

"That, is more like it." Hidan said seriously as he looked at it closer. It was a pair of pure black short shorts with a red bow on the back, and a padded blood red push up bra, the middle of the bra was joined up with a light silver ring. Deidara handed the clothes to me before ducking down to find some shoes.

"Are you trying to make me look like a prostitute!?" I cried quietly as Deidara finally pulled out a long pair of fishnet tights and small black shoes.

"My girlfriend is no prostitute. My girlfriend has to make other guys jealous of me and that is perfect." Hidan chuckled uncontrollably before taking the rest of the clothes off of Deidara."Now get changed in these quickly, me and Deidara will turn around." Hidan ordered as both him and Deidara turned around.

I sighed before reluctantly putting the clothes on. They felt like they were good enough to manoeuvre complicated attacks in, but it was not the kind of thing I'd wear in public.

"I'm done."I said quietly. they both turned around and stared at me. My heart felt heavy slightly. I'm extremely self conscious in my appearance.

"That is great." Hidan chuckled darkly. "Deidara, make her hair look sexy too." He said with a crazy expression. Deidara looked at me with interest before walking towards me and taking out a chakra brush. I've not seen anything like it in real life, but from the rumours the brush was supposed to grow your hair longer in seconds.

As I thought, Deidara started brushing my hair and holding it in his hands as it grew.

"Ah, what do you know, you're naturally born with pink hair." Hidan commented as Deidara walked behind me. He kept on brushing until I could feel my hair reach just a little past the middle of my back. He then tied my hair up in a mid ponytail before walking in front of me. He looked at my fringe before grabbing both sides and brushing it to the left of my face.

He paused for a second before looking at me. I frowned as Deidara smiled at me.

"How about this Hidan?" Deidara asked as he put the brush away. Hidan nodded, I simply sighed and mentally prepared myself for this whole mission. I'm only doing this for Sasuke.

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;_; My time is so limited now-a-days D: Here's a bit of a longer chapter for you guys D:

xXx


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